The Crimean authorities on Monday banned the export of certain foods from the peninsula in a bid to prevent food shortages there, a senior Crimean agriculture official said.
Businessmen from Russian regions have been buying Crimean products in bulk because they are cheaper than local goods, Ekho Moskvy reported Monday, citing Crimean Agriculture Minister Mykola Polyushkin.
Polyushkin said, for example, that Crimean vegetables are being delivered to the Kherson region in Ukraine and are then sent on to various Russian regions, where the same products are 30-40 percent more expensive, online news portal Pronedra.ru reported.
The products that can no longer be exported are wheat, flour, vegetable oil, sugar, buckwheat, eggs, alcohol, meat and meat products, milk and various canned goods, according to Ekho Moskvy.
Polyushkin did not say how long the restrictions would last, the report said.
